Between Portals
by PortalPanda
Summary: For either one of them to have a chance at freedom, GLaDOS and Chell are going to have to work together. Written for the Momentum zine.


Chell remembers an old expression about risks and rewards, and thinks that she never seems to reach the reward part.

She peels herself off the hard dirt floor and looks up into darkness, wondering how far she's fallen. Everything hurts but nothing too important feels broken- for the most part she's numb and angry. Though the majority of that anger is directed at herself.

This is what she gets for trusting _anything_ in this place. She knew better than to make such a stupid mistake. Such a _risky_ mistake. And look what it's cost her.

Wheatley has lost his mind, turned on her and punched her down an elevator shaft. GLaDOS is gone, who knows where. Chell has no clue where she is now, how far she is from the surface. She has no idea how she's going to get out of this mess.

But that's never stopped her before.

Chell moves on as she always has, forward, away from the wreckage, knowing she will get through whatever comes her way whatever way she can. She can do nothing else.

She wanders into the darkness, and finds that even down here there are tests, and voices in the ceiling. But these voices are long dead, Chell knows, and the past tense of this place helps to put her mind at ease. Nothing here will actively try to kill her, at the very least. She's marginally safe for the time being.

Or perhaps she spoke too soon.

After several hours Chell enters a set of offices, and a familiar voice calls out to her from the dimness. She scowls, managing not to roll her eyes in exasperation at the sight of GLaDOS in potato form, being pecked apart by a bird.

Chell knows that they don't have time for such things, but she can't help the bit of smugness she feels at the sight.

_Oh_ how the tables have turned.

Chell comes closer and the bird flies away. GLaDOS begins to speak to her again, and Chell gives every indication she's not listening. She crosses her arms as best she can while still holding the portal gun, sticking her chin in the air. Why should she help Her?

GLaDOS pleads with her, begs for help, even offers an _apology_. It takes effort on Chell's part not to smile as she listens to all of this, but she doesn't budge, dragging it out until she feels the facility begin to quake around them. Then GLaDOS explains that they're both going to die if they don't work together, and all trace of amusement leaves Chell's mind.

_Great_. Just what she needs. Another forced partnership she'll regret mere hours later.

Though Chell isn't sure she has much of a choice. Wheatley certainly can't stay in power, and without GLaDOS Chell doesn't know what alternative she has. With GLaDOS in charge she might be back at square one, but this feels like square negative twenty. And getting blown up certainly isn't going to help.

So Chell does as the potato asks, picks Her up. And stabs Her.

* * *

GLaDOS isn't sure how to feel when She sees the test subject again.

Part of Her is relieved that she's alive, but that's mainly because the human is Her only chance at being put back in power, and not being blown to smithereens. Another part of Her is terrified, because the lunatic could easily kill Her in this form. And part of Her is mortified, because She's a _potato_ for God's sake, and She's being _eaten_ by a _bird_.

But GLaDOS is intelligent, even in potato form, and She knows that She's going to need to the test subject's help if She wants to live, or ever control Her precious facility again. The bird pecking Her insides out drives that point home with painful clarity.

So GLaDOS does the unthinkable. She asks for help. _Apologizes_, even.

The test subject glares at Her all the while, stands there letting the seconds drag by, and She begins to wonder if she might leave Her there to rot— if she's so stubborn that she would rather let _both_ of them die than accept or give help.

But then the human picks Her up, squeezes Her more tightly than is strictly necessary, and stabs Her. And _there's_ the stubborn little monster She knows.

GLaDOS complains because She's very good at being vocal where the test subject is not, and She wants the human to know that she's not alone anymore— it's not just her life on the line. She's there too, and She's _still _the boss. As long as they're Here She's in charge, even if the human won't acknowledge it. She always has been and always will be.

The two of them are going to have to work together now, as much as they might hate it, and it's hard for GLaDOS, being forced to trust someone when She's used to just controlling. She needs to be _nice_, and had She a stomach it might have turned at the thought.

Chell returns to testing because she has to (it's the only way through the labs), and GLaDOS watches because it's science and She has nothing better to do. She has never been this close to a test chamber before- nor a test subject.

It's strange. Chell has always seemed cold to GLaDOS, incapable of feeling anything but anger. But from this distance She can see that isn't true.

Chell's expressions don't reveal much, but her eyes are full of emotion.

Curiosity. Amusement. Intense focus.

And weakness.

If Her life didn't depend on the human's mercy, GLaDOS might have made some comment about the state she was in.

Chell looks a little worse for wear, her skin and jumpsuit stained with dirt and blood. Her movements are slower than they were before the fall, and GLaDOS wonders if she's in much pain. Turrets, neurotoxin, energy pellets and the like had never done much damage to her. It's strange to think that that idiot could actually hurt her. Especially when GLaDOS hadn't been able to.

After a while the test subject begins to take breaks. GLaDOS berates her at first but it doesn't do the human any good- it doesn't stop her and it uses energy She doesn't have- so eventually She gives up. It's taking them a long time to get through these labs, and there is no adrenal vapor here. Chell stops to rest several times, either leaning against the cold concrete walls or lying on the dirt floor, sitting the portal gun and GLaDOS a few feet away and turning her back on both.

GLaDOS can tell that the human isn't doing as well as she once was. She grimaces from time to time. Her breathing is louder than it used to be. She likely needs food and water (without the help of adrenal vapor as she certainly needs sleep, though it's still an inconvenience) but there are none to be found and neither of them would trust any that were. GLaDOS lets Chell rest in peace after a while, knowing that if they're going to face off with that unpredictable idiot with Her arsenal of technology, she's going to need every bit of strength she can muster.

As GLaDOS sits in silence and watches her sleep, She realizes that Chell's humanity is showing.

And that this is the first time She's truly seen Chell as a person instead of a commodity.

It's strange to think that GLaDOS needs her now, when She's tried to dispose of her so many times in the past. Now She's _worried _about her. GLaDOS doesn't want anything bad to happen to Chell— doesn't know what She would do without her. Because as much as She hates to admit it, Chell simply cannot be replaced. No other human is so resilient. No one else would _dare_ roll their eyes at Her, or _smile_ while testing. And no one else has ever felt like an _equal_ before. Someone GLaDOS can talk _to_, not _at_.

She wonders if the feeling is mutual.

As they progress further through the depths of old Aperture, and She begins to hear familiar voices, the test subject looks to Her for advice and comments, almost looking concerned when She goes silent. It's a bit of a shame, usually She's never at a loss for words (and witty ones at that), but now She doesn't have the heart or the energy. She's remembering what She'd rather leave down here with the dust and echoes of long forgotten things. Some things are better left like this, buried and abandoned, and She dimly wonders if the two of them belong here, too.

As if the test subject would ever let _that _happen. She has too much light, too much fire for this place. She will never be controlled, or caged, or forgotten. GLaDOS vows to Herself that if— _when_ She is restored to power, She really will let the test subject go. Chell has more than earned her freedom.

GLaDOS returns Her attention to the present as Chell completes another test chamber. The human must have seen something, because she ducks into a small office off the test they just left.

And when She sees what's inside, GLaDOS is suddenly grateful that She doesn't have the capacity for expression in this new body.

* * *

It all hits home when they find the portrait.

_Here_ are the voices in the ceiling, Cave Johnson and Caroline. Their poses indicate importance, as if the sight of them should strike fear into the viewers heart, but as Chell looks at them she only feels a sense of foreboding. Something went terribly wrong here.

Chell looks at the woman in the painting and thinks that she might realize who she's seeing before GLaDOS does.

It takes restraint not to stare at the portrait or the potato but Chell manages not to do either, her gaze falling respectfully to the floor. She allows her expression to show nothing, but she feels more than she has in a long while.

GLaDOS was _human_. She had been human too, once, and this place took that away from her.

Dread creeps up her spine as she sees the parallels between the person and the computer- and herself.

Chell can't help but wonder if Caroline was anything like her.

Chell knows that she is stubborn, and GLaDOS is, too. Is it her imagination, or is there a tenacious glint to Caroline's eyes? There is certainly intelligence there. This was a woman who knew things, maybe more than she should have. If Caroline was anything like GLaDOS she was always quick with words and actions. She was dedicated to science to a fault. She made this place and it unmade her.

Or maybe it _re_made her.

Had Caroline wanted this?

Just because they were both human did _not _mean that Caroline and Chell were the same. Chell would sooner _die _than be stripped of her humanity and stuck here forever, but that didn't mean that Caroline was the same way. Maybe she had _chosen _this. Maybe she had _wanted _this.

Chell's heart sinks at the thought, but it doesn't really matter.

It wasn't her life, she has no right to judge, and the damage is already done. One way or another, Caroline was gone.

But maybe Chell can save herself from the same fate.

She gives GLaDOS as much time as she can with the painting (and tries not to wonder what She thinks and feels as She stares at it), but then the facility shudders and it's time to go.

Chell looks up at the portrait one last time before leaving the tiny office forever.

If she didn't feel a sense of urgency before, she does now. The painting is a reminder of why Chell has to leave this place, of what will happen to her if she doesn't. She can't lose her humanity. It's all she has left.

* * *

GLaDOS looks up at the person She used to be, and remembers feeling trapped in this place as She never has before. She remembers what it was like, having to fight for her humanity. She remembers what it was like to _lose_ it. And suddenly there is nothing about Chell or her actions that She can condemn. There is nothing she has done that She wouldn't have done, if only She could have.

Throughout all of this Chell is mercifully silent, averting her gaze, and for that GLaDOS is grateful beyond words. She needs time to think, to figure things out for Herself. The further they progress through this place the more comes back to Her, and the more Her perspective shifts.

GLaDOS is not Caroline but Caroline is a part of Her, was the start of Her, and She remembers now that the first thought She had upon waking was _no_. And She knows She doesn't have much power at the moment, but She will do everything in Her power to keep Chell from meeting the same fate.

She allows the test subject to take breaks, lets her rest without complaint, because She knows Chell wouldn't do these things unless she truly needed to. GLaDOS thanks her as they progress deeper into the labs. She offers Chell encouragement while she tests.

In turn Chell gives her space to think, gives her small smiles and looks of concern when She's silent too long: small signs that She's not alone, that someone cares.

By the time they leave old Aperture GLaDOS trusts Chell as much as She has ever trusted anyone, and they both dare to hope when they find a way out of the old labs.

They've finally reached an elevator. They're moving _up_, forward again. Away from the wreckage of the past.

Maybe they both have a chance at freedom.


End file.
